Rising to the Sunset

Disclaimer:  I don't own these characters.  They belong to Marvel

Rated PG-13 for some mild swearing.

"Dr. Mc Coy, do you know what this is?" Kitty asked, holding up a device that resembled a watch.  Hank pushed his glasses up his furry, blue nose, and examined it.

"I'm not sure.  It appears to be a mobile device for one of these machines.  I haven't had a chance to checkout all this stuff yet".

"I learned how to use most of the main machines.  Dr. Grey was teaching me because I was interested".

"Yes, the Professor told me.  I'm glad to have you around the lab to help.  So do you know how to run the EEG machine?"

"Yes," Kitty answered, going over to it.  "And how to access everyone's archived records and run matches and spot differences".

"Excellent"

"I've pulled Mr. Summers' records for the last five years.  There is a marked difference between the first 3 years and the last 2".

Hank frowned.  "If he has highly variable results, we may not be able to find anything out".

**Hank, I need you at the baseball field immediately.  Artie has injured his leg.  I'm not sure how badly**, the Professor projected into Hank and Kitty's minds.

**"Professor, what about Scott's test?"**

**Kitty can do it**

Hank nodded, and turned to Kitty, who agreed.

"Ok, off to save the day.  Want to bet it was an all out powers game?"

Kitty laughed.  She sat at the bench and keyed something into her laptop.  A series of EEGs appeared on the screen.  More tapping scanned the sample for differences.  The first three years were very consistent, as were the last two, but there was a notable difference between the two samples.  In fact, Kitty had never even seen an EEG that resembled Scott's last two years, and she had helped Jean do the annuals.  They had to have annual EEGs as a precaution to monitor their normal brain function, in an environment with so much potential for psionic activity.  There were differences in everyone's, but nothing like what Kitty was seeing now.  There were extreme spikes in activity.  Curious, Kitty called up the Professor's annual.  It was incredible; almost entirely high spikes…

A knock at the door pulled Kitty away from her computer.  Scott entered the room, looking incredibly worn out.  He had a few days worth of scruff on his face, and Kitty was sure that if his covered by his ruby glasses she would see big dark circles under his eyes.  His dress shirt was untucked, and unbuttoned, showing his T-shirt underneath. 

"Hello, Mr. Summers.  Have a seat".

Scott nodded and slowly sat on the examining table.  He was very tense.  Kitty realized that being in the med lab must be hard for him.  In the week since Alkali Lake, the students had been tiptoeing around Scott, trying not to inadvertently say the wrong thing.

"Let me put the leads on," Kitty began, unwrapping them.  "Oh yeah, Dr. Mc Coy got called away, so I'll be doing the test."

"Okay".

"There was a problem during the baseball game.  Powers, " Kitty explained, making small talk while she attached the two leads to his head.  They were both wireless devices, allowing Kitty to instantly call up the image on her laptop.   Scott did not react to the baseball game problem as Kitty would have expected.  Ordinarily it would have made him angry that the students were using their powers in a baseball game.

"Ok, all set," Kitty announced. "I'm getting a feed".

"Do I have to stay still?"

"No, "  Kitty keyed a few things into the laptop to ensure that the data was being recorded.  This feed was peculiar, unlike either of the others.  There were lone spikes here and there and other bizarre features Kitty had never seen.  "Mr. Summers, what exactly are we looking for?  Changes?"

"I think so.  I don't understand it.  I just…I'm just looking for some…some indication…activity."  His voice was thick with emotion.

"Mr. Summers…"

"Oh, Kitty, you can call me Scott here".

It felt odd, but she did it.  "Scott, you and Jean had a mind link, right?"

"Yes"

"And you're looking for indications that there are remnants …"

"I've gotten this odd buzzing and headaches and these really fucking weird euphoric moments that I just want to go away".

Kitty's eyes widened to hear Scott swear.  She had only heard him swear once before and it was in a conversation with Jean, and he didn't know she was in the room.

"So it feels like the link is active?"

Scott paused.   "I don't know.  Maybe I'm imagining it…hoping for it".  Scott bit his quivering lip.  They sat in silence for a while, Kitty staring at the screen.  She ran a number of match attempts.  There were segment matches with both samples of Scott's archived EEGs, but none of them were particularly long matches.

"Mr….uh…Scott, when did you and Jean establish your permanent mind link?"

"Two years ago".

"Oh!"

"What?"

"There is a marked difference in your readings from the past two years and those before that".

"The mind link.  I remember Jean saying something about telepaths having heightened readings".

"Yeah.  I was looking at the Professor's archive before you came, and he's off the page".

"So you can recognize the difference in the readings with the link?"

"Yeah.  Look,"  She showed him the screen with the comparison.

"How…how does my current reading compare?"

"It's really odd, unlike any of the others.  It's a combination of both, with very distinct separate moments, and isolated spikes".

"But it indicates higher than normal thought process?"  Scott's voice was quick and anxious.

"It appears that way," Kitty replied.  "But I'm not an expert".

"I wish Cerebro were up and running again, then the Professor would be able to tell for sure and we wouldn't have to rely on variable brain waves.  He thinks I'm just experiencing these sensations because I want to feel something".

 While Scott was talking, Kitty fidgeted with the watch.  It appeared to be a remote device for most of the main machines.  Kitty keyed the frequency of the leads into the touchpad and hit enter.  The EEG appeared on the LCD screen.  Kitty smiled.

Scott continued through all this.  "I guess I do want to feel something.  I don't' know, maybe I am imagining it, but it feels so real. These sensations.  I..." he bit his lip and his shoulders shook with sobs. 

"Scott…I believe you.  All signs indicate that something is going on.  Can I monitor you all day tomorrow?  It would be useful to see what happens in the specific segments where you experience the strange sensations.  I have this device here that can pick up the frequencies.  And I think I can send it directly to the laptop and cross match.  I can monitor directly while I'm in your class, and if you could write down the times you experience the…uh…activity, I can reference those specific segments of the record.  And once I have more data …and one day should be plenty, don't' worry…I can show Dr. Mc Coy and the Professor".

Scott looked up. "Thank you Kitty.  For believing me," He stood up. "So I just leave these in?"

"Yeah, and record times".

"Ok," Scott attempted a smile. 

"Oh!" Kitty had an idea.  "Can I give you a few more sensors? So I can get a complete impression of what happens?"

"Sure.  What kind of sensors?"

"Heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature," Kitty retrieved the leads and keyed their frequencies into the watch.  She could uplink them to the laptop later. "So just take these and put the sticky part on your…uh…chest".

"Ok"  Scott lifted up his shirt to do it. Kitty gulped.  She had expected him to do it later.  His bare chest was amazing.  But this was business so she suppressed the urge to stare. 

'This one goes over your heart…these under your collar bone on either side…and this one on the nape of your neck".

After all the leads were attached, Scott left, in a better mood than he had come in.  Kitty sat and played with the watch.  She figured out how to link it to her machine and auto save.   Kitty looked at the clock.  Scott had only been there for 15 minutes. 

Hank came striding into the room carrying Artie, whose face was wet from recent tears. "It's broken.  But I don't think we'll see another powers game for a long time".

Kitty laughed.

"How did it go with Scott?"

It was very interesting.  There may be some foundation to his claims.  I've put some leads on him that I'm going to monitor for the next day or so.  Oh! I got the watch to work.

Sounds good.  I'll mention it to the Professor.

Kitty nodded and exited to her room with the watch and laptop in hand, as Hank got Artie ready for his leg to be set.